Lucario is a new playable character to the franchise. He is unlocked by either playing 100 matches, completing all five target smashes with a single character, or recruiting he in the Subspace Emissary. Its home stage is Spear Pillar.

Subspace Emissary

Lucario first appears on the top of Glacial Peak, where he decides to fight Meta Knight. The player can choose either or, with a different cutscene showing if one wins and another if the other does, with the winner reviving the loser from their trophy state. After that, Lucario joins the main party, and goes with Snake and Meta Knight throughout the next level. Lucario teams up with Snake and Meta Knight in order to battle Peach and Zelda, who have been consumed by Subspace bugs. Once they are defeated, Lucario and the others must battle a giant robot atop the Halberd. After that, Lucario and the others meet up with the rest of the heroes and proceed to the Subspace World. After traveling through it, all of the heroes, including Lucario, are turned back into trophies by Tabuu. However, he is later revived by Luigi, Ness, King Dedede and Kirby. Lucario, along with the others, tackles the Great Maze, and then they battle Tabuu, and win, effectivly saving the world.

Mei Ling: "I guess you could call it his life force. Lucario can use his own Aura and turn it into power. Every time Lucario's damage increases, his aura gains strength, making his attacks more powerful. So don't think you've got him beat just because his health is down."

Snake: "The cornered rat will bite the cat... Sounds like trouble."

Mei Ling: "Hey! When did you become so good with proverbs?!"

Snake: "You must have rubbed off on me."

Mei Ling: "Well, come back in one piece, and I'll teach you all the Chinese proverbs you can handle."

Trophy information

Lucario using its Final Smash

Lucario

An Aura Pokémon. It can track energy called Aura, which is given off by all living creatures. It's a unique combination of both Fighting and Steel-type Pokémon. Lucario evolves from Riolu during the day if its happiness has reached its maximum point. It specializes in attacks that use Aura energy, like Dark Pulse and a can't-miss technique, Aura Sphere.

Aura Storm

Lucario's Final Smash. After flying off the screen, Lucario reappears in its center. It then launches a powerful Aura attack against all foes within a certain distance. The key to this attack is the ability to change its angle--it's a must sweep slowly left and right to hit selected enemies multiple times. The last blow will send the victim flying away.